On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

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06-13-2005 Golf at Beechwood Golf Course, LaPorte, IN

Monday, June 13, I tried to call my eye doctor and order a new contact lens this morning but the cell phone wouldn't cooperate. I even walked up on the hill where I had success last night but nothing doing. Maybe the clouds this morning are interfering. Around 11:30 Bob and I took Quince Rd. north of State Rd. 2 to Auten to find Elbel Golf Course. This was a great looking municipal course but they were having some kind of event and we couldn't get on. So we scoped out a backup course and headed southwest to Beechwood Golf Course in LaPorte. This is another nice course that is owned and operated by the City of LaPorte. We can't get over how the muni public courses are so well maintained up here. Of course it is a lot easier to grow grass up here and sprinkler systems are optional.

Bob played the Blue Tees at 6,657 yards and a hefty slope of 131. I played the Red Tees at a long 5,703 yards and a slope of 121. After last night's steady rain while we slept the course was playing even longer. I count on a lot of roll on those long holes! We were dismayed at the oppressive mugginess. We almost quit after 9 holes but decided to have a Gatorade break and forge ahead. But after two holes on the back nine (actually the front nine, since we teed off on number ten) we caught up with a group of junior girls who were having an event. The par 3 third hole had several groups stacked up and about that time it started raining. We were a stone's throw from the clubhouse so we packed it in. We were glad we did. The rain actually felt good but the area got about an inch and we could hear thunder.

We tried to stop at the Cafe Amour in LaPorte but it closed down for lunch at 2:00 and it was five minutes to three when we got there. They still had their OPEN neon sign on and people were eating in there so we stepped in. The hostess said they closed at 2:00 and she hadn't had a chance to turn the sign off but she would see if the cook was still back there. Bob said, "Oh no, it's 3:00 already, thanks anyway” and we left. She gave us a quizzical look but we didn't think about it until later. As we drove west to LaPorte we crossed back into the Central Time Zone so it really was five minutes to two. This place is way too confusing with all of the time zones and Daylight Savings Time discrepancies. Anyway we stopped at Archie's "Jolly Good Food" just east of downtown on State Road 2. It was an order-at-the-counter place. Bob had a Monte Cristo Sandwich and I had a meatloaf sandwich. It started to rain a bit harder as we ate so we were happy about our decision to get off the golf course. We bought a Chicago Tribune out of the machine on the sidewalk out front and left five or six older gentlemen drinking their coffee and gabbing in the plastic booths inside good ole Archie's.

Back home we parked by the office on the hill and I called my eye doctor to order my contact lens. My left one has a slight tear on the outer rim. Sounds like it will take at least two weeks to get one ordered, delivered and picked up through our mail-forwarding service. Life on the road is always interesting.

It's 10:50 p.m. and 70.4 degrees. Strong storms are sweeping through in the next half hour. The rain has already started coming down.